The Physics and Chemistry of Materials

A comprehensive introduction to the structure, properties, and
applications of materials
This title provides the first unified treatment for the broad
subject of materials. Authors Gersten and Smith use a fundamental
approach to define the structure and properties of a wide range of
solids on the basis of the local chemical bonding and atomic order
present in the material. Emphasizing the physical and chemical
origins of material properties, the book focuses on the most
technologically important materials being utilized and developed by
scientists and engineers.
Appropriate for use in advanced materials courses, The Physics and
Chemistry of Materials provides the background information
necessary to assimilate the current academic and patent literature
on materials and their applications. Problem sets, illustrations,
and helpful tables complete this well-rounded new treatment.
Five sections cover these important topics:
* Structure of materials, including crystal structure, bonding in
solids, diffraction and the reciprocal lattice, and order and
disorder in solids
* Physical properties of materials, including electrical, thermal,
optical, magnetic, and mechanical properties
* Classes of materials, including semiconductors, superconductors,
magnetic materials, and optical materials in addition to metals,
ceramics, polymers, dielectrics, and ferroelectrics
* A section on surfaces, thin films, interfaces, and multilayers
discusses the effects of spatial discontinuities in the physical
and chemical structure of materials
* A section on synthesis and processing examines the effects of
synthesis on the structure and properties of various
materials
This book is enhanced by a Web-based supplement that offers
advanced material together with an entire electronic chapter on the
characterization of materials. The Physics and Chemistry of
Materials is a complete introduction to the structure and
properties of materials for students and an excellent reference for
scientists and engineers.

*An Instructor's Manual presenting detailed solutions to all the
problems in the book is available from the Wiley editorial
department.

"This text...defines the structure and properties of a range of
solids on the basis of the local chemical bonding and atomic order
present in the material." (SciTech Book News, Vol. 25, No.
4, December 2001)

"To capture the essence of this vast subject in any detail is a
difficult undertaking in one single book, but on the whole I
believe that the authors have succeeded." (Chemistry in
Britain, February 2002)

"...we clearly need a textbook that combines an authoritative
treatment of the issues with broad scope, appropriate journal
coverage, clarity, integrated notation, and continuity. Joel I.
Gersten and Frederick W. Smith have worked hard on this problem and
have solved it in an exemplary and remarkably efficient fashion;
their The Physics and Chemistry of Materials is...a wonderful
book." (Physics Today, July 2002)

As we learn and teach the properties of materials, we clearly
need a textbook that combines an authoritative treatment of the
issues with broad scope, appropriate journal coverage, clarity,
integrated notation, and continuity. Joel I. Gersten and Frederick
W. Smith have worked hard on this problem and have solved it in an
exemplary and remarkably efficient fashion; their The Physics and
Chemistry of Materials is, in sum, a wonderful book.
In their preface, the authors discuss the need for a textbook that
?emphasizes the physical and chemical origins of the properties of
solids while . . . focusing on the technologically important
materials that are being developed and used by scientists and
engineers.? They declare their intent to ?bring the science of
materials closer to technology than is done in most traditional
books on solid-state physics . . . [stressing] properties and their
interpretation and [avoiding] the development of formalism for its
own sake.? And they designed their book so that, "the range of
topics covered is comprehensive but not exhaustive . . . much more
material is presented than can be covered in a one semester
course." All of these statements of intent are borne out by the
text. In its 826 pages, the book does a remarkable job of covering
five major topics: structure, physical properties, classes,
synthesis, and processing of materials; surfaces; thin films;
interfaces; and multilayers. The text is divided into 22 chapters
that present clearly and authoritatively the appropriate
qualitative descriptions, mathematical developments, conceptual
notions, notations, and formulas.
The book contains all the resources that an excellent textbook
should have but many modern ones do not. These resources include
extensive tables and data, two excellent indices that make the book
useful as a reference as well as a text, clear illustrations, and a
set of problems that focus on fundamentals rather than simple
mathematics or plug-in exercises.
A Web site associated with the book contains further extended
discussions of some major points, including the description of
additional materials properties and examples of current
applications. The Web site also offers experimental techniques and
appendices on thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and quantum
mechanics.
Although The Physics and Chemistry of Materials is intended as a
textbook, it is one of the few books that I will actually make
space for on my desk, because of its very broad coverage and
remarkably focused discussion of so many topics. The next time I
need to be reminded of what the Poole?Frenkel effect is, or what
the fundamental microscopic basis for plasticity is, or which
polymers are piezoelectric, this book is the place to find the
description at the right level, along with some physical examples
and leading references.
There are a few things missing even in this exemplary treatment. As
the authors themselves point out, the treatment of biomaterials and
composites is quite short. Indeed, of the classical aspects of
materials science, ceramics clearly gets less emphasis here than do
metals and polymers. Some modern topics that one might have
expected to find, such as organic light-emitting diodes and
conductive polymers, are absent. The book does not point to answers
to the problems.
These, though, are minor quibbles. I find this book a delight: its
clarity is matched only by its broad scope and remarkable utility.
While the cost is high, elementary text-books for first-year
students are roughly in the same cost range. And this book (unlike
many classroom texts) will remain very useful long after the course
ends. (PHYSICS TODAY)
Authors note: The topics of electrical conductivity of polymers and
organic light emitting diodes are covered in the web supplement to
the text in sections W14.7 and W20.7 respectively.

"...an excellent text for advanced students and an excellent
reference for more experienced chemists.... Its range of
coverage...is certainly unmatched." (Journal of Chemical
Education, Vol. 80, No. 4, April 2003)

Instructors

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